Jonathan - Music - http://maxpages.com/kornvalues/Jonathan

Korn... in their words

Up Close With Jonathan

Q:Why don't you tell us a little bit about the attitude with which KORN went into the studio with this time? What were you hoping to achieve?

A:Our only goal was to take our time on this album because I knew we had it in us that we could do something great, fully integrate both albums and put out an album that we could really be proud of. Because, shit! The first album only took four months to write, record and mix. This one took nine, so... I mean that was our attitude and we wanted to do some phat shit.

Q:What’s really amazing about the music of KORN is that you really created this really intense hybrid sound that has elements of hip-hop, it has elements of Brain Eno experimentation. Why don't you tell us about what goes into the creation of the KORN sound--what happens during the writing process?

A:For us it just pretty much happens. We just stick to that sick, weird, eerie vibe and then throw hip-hop elements into it. It's strange, I don't know how to explain it. We just do what we do to be honest. It's also a combination of all our different influences--there's no big heads in our band. Everybody's got their little bits that they put in. Like Fieldy with his hip-hop influences. Me with my melodies and all my `80's drama that I love. I love that era. Munky is always into John Zorn and the (Mr.) Bungle stuff and so is Head. So I think it just creates a cool musical cocktail or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, it's putting chaos into music. Because all the sounds are all dissonant and just fucked up. It's not really all in key. It all melts together into something that's got melody.

Q:Do you write with the philosophy that if you can't play something in concert, you don't record it?

A:Yes. The only time we would do that is if we record something that's way underneath like in a chorus that you can barely hear on a record. If it just adds mood, that's okay. But as far as a main part, no way.

Q:What do you personally contribute to KORN's sound and to FOLLOW THE LEADER in particular?

A:My thoughts going into this record were that I've already sung two albums of just straight fuckin' cathartic rage. To keep myself real and to keep my integrity, I gotta move on. I mean, there are only so many things in my life I can scream about. It's getting ridiculous. I want to keep that going and become a better singer. I've always wanted to be a true singer. I think on this album I finally became a singer and I still got across with my melodies what I was feeling. To me, melodies are more fucking intense than a scream. If it's such an intense melody, I feel it even more. It just takes me somewhere. It's spiritual. That's all I wanted to do on this album. It's time for me to move on. I don't want to stay the same or take a step down. I just want to move on and do something exciting and new and make people go, 'Fuck.'

Q:What's your favorite new sound or technique that you used for the first time on this album?

A:I got this voice-bender like a synthesizer... I don't know what it's called, but it does all this weird shit. I used it on this album and I thought it would be cool to hear what I could do with my voice. It worked well. I got all kinds of crazy effects on that thing. I use it on almost the whole album. It makes my voice lower, makes it sound like I'm in a megaphone, it doubles my voice, makes it sound like I have a wah-wah on my voice. It does all kinds of things.

i got this interview, and all the others from KoRn.

KoRnCounterfeit@hotmail.com

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Page Updated Sat May 1, 1999 3:41pm EDT